


Super Koopalings Episode 1: Celia's Dad

by StarlitDuck



Series: Super Koopalings [1]
Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Deviates From Canon, F/M, Interspecies Romance, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:01:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26534770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlitDuck/pseuds/StarlitDuck
Summary: Originally posted on my FanFiction account back in 2019. Roy runs into a girl named Celia Patch, a half human half Koopa hybrid who claims that Bowser is her father. Book one of the Super Koopalings series.
Series: Super Koopalings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1929502
Comments: 3





	1. The Hooded Figure

Chapter 1 The Hooded Figure

It was a beautiful day in the Koopa Kingdom. To some, that statement may be a little hard to believe. The Koopa Kingdom is located within a valley, and that valley is notorious for containing at least eighteen active volcanoes. Because of this, it is difficult for people to imagine this realm having a day where the sky isn’t overloaded with sulfurous gases and ominous, black clouds. But this day was one of the most gorgeous days not just in the Koopa Kingdom, but in all of the Mushroom World. 

This day, where sunbeams were streaming down and drenching people in a heavenly light, was the day that Roy Koopa had decided to take a walk around a quaint little town. Roy was especially enjoying the walk because it was a real stress reliever. With six biological siblings and one adopted sibling, life at home could get pretty chaotic. He had no idea how Bowser was able to handle running a kingdom and raising a gaggle of children all at the same time. He could kind of see why he took a vacation to the Beanbean Kingdom recently.

Anyway, Roy was taking a stroll through a small town. He was starting to feel a little hungry when he noticed a duo of female koopas sitting on a bench. At the sight of them, Roy let out a whistle.

“Whoa ho ho, hello there,” he said to himself. Turning to the side, he noticed his reflection in a store window. He admired himself for a brief second, then licked his hand. Grinning devilishly to himself, he took his hand and rubbed it over his bald, pink head. With his head now glistening like a star, he waltzed over to the conversing women.

“Hello there ladies,” he said casually.

The two women glanced up at Roy.

“How are you doing today?” he asked.

“Uhh...we’re doing alright,” said one.

“Yeah, we’re just hanging out,” said the other.

Roy gave a chuckle and took a seat on the bench.

“That’s cool,” he said. Turning to the first lady he added, “Say, why don’t you and I grab a quick bite? I hear that there’s a restaurant nearby that sells really good hamburgers.”

It was after he said this that Roy heard somebody clearing their throat behind him. Turning around, he saw another koopa standing within two inches of the bench. The first thing that Roy noticed was that this guy had very scrawny muscles. Roy thought that he could take this guy in a fight with his dominant arm tied behind his back. 

“Mind if I step in?” asked the guy.

“Oh sure, not at all,” said Roy as he got up from the bench, his voice coated with a condescending tone. “You trying to ask this girl out too?”

“Something like that,” said the guy. Then he and the girl shared a kiss. Roy’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“You ready for lunch, babe?” asked the guy.

“You betcha,” said the girl. With their arms interlocked, the two of them walked off down the street. Roy, still recovering from the shock, was determined to regain his edge.

“Okay then. How about you and me go out for hamburgers?” He asked while turning to the other girl. Her snout wrinkled up, as if she got a whiff of a foul smelling odor.

“Uhh...no thanks,” she said. With that, she put her purse over her shoulder and started walking away. Roy, not willing to accept another failure, followed her.

“What?” said Roy. “Well then how about hot dogs? Sushi? Steak?”

The girl refused to turn around.

“Come on, there’s gotta be something that you like,” Roy said. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled out, “I HEAR THE SUSHI PLACE HAS GREAT VEGETARIAN OPTIONS!” This made the girl pick up the pace. Realizing that he was dealing with a lost cause, Roy let out an exasperated sigh. Then, he heard somebody chuckling to his left.

“Not having much luck with the ladies today, huh?”

Roy turned and he saw a figure leaning against the wall of an antique shop. If Roy had to guess, even though he was exponentially bad at guessing, he would say that the figure was human. The reason he thought that was because koopas didn’t usually wear clothing, and when they did it wasn’t to the same extreme as the amount of clothing that this person was wearing. They were wearing a pair of black combat boots, faded blue jeans, and a black hoodie. The hood was pulled up, so Roy couldn’t see the person’s face.

Roy didn’t even stop to consider why a human was in the Koopa Kingdom. Instead, he just jumped right to interacting with them.

“Tell me about it,” he said.

The person smiled. 

“So tell me, do you wear some sort of chick repellent or do you just not have any game whatsoever?” they asked.

Roy glared.

“Don’t be smart with me,” Roy said. “This is just an unlucky day for me. Normally, I am so irresistible that girls of all ages are drawn to me like lights are drawn to a moth.”

The person put their hand over their mouth. Roy was not sure why.

“Say, do you want a piece of advice?” they asked.

“Not really,” Roy said in response.

“Well too bad, I’m giving it to you anyway,” they said. “See that girl?”

The person pointed across the street, and Roy looked to see a koopa girl gazing at a necklace in a shop window. She had on a long cyan scarf.

“If you want to get a conversation going with her, just tell her that her scarf really brings out her eyes,” said the human. “After that, she’ll be like putty in your hands.”

Roy smiled as he turned back to the person.

“Hey, thanks for the help,” he said. “You know, I probably could’ve been able to…”

Roy didn’t get to finish his sentence because something hit him in the back of the head unexpectedly. Roy turned around to see what it was, and on the ground lay a red ball, covered in white spikes. The ball uncurled itself, revealing a spiny.

“What the…” Roy said.

In the street, Roy caught a glimpse of a group of goombas, koopas, and koopa troopas running frantically. Above them all sat a lakitu on a cloud. The Lakitu looked angrier than a wasp that had just had its nest invaded and trashed, and he was hurling spinies in every direction one can imagine. He was throwing them eastward, westward, northward, southward, sideways, sphereways, inwards, outwards, and somehow, for some reason, he had even managed to throw them upside down. 

“Dude, it was a joke!” cried one of the koopas from the crowd.

“No one makes fun of my glasses,” screeched the lakitu at the top of his lungs. “You hear? NO ONE!!”

The lakitu jumped, and when he did a collection of lightning bolts was hurled in every which way. At this, the person grabbed a hold of Roy’s hand and dragged him toward a manhole.

“Looks like it’s cloudy with a chance of temper tantrum,” they said as they started pulling the cover of the manhole up. “We had better take cover.”

“Woah, woah,” said Roy. “You want me to go into the sewer? No thanks.”

“Uh, sorry Mr. Big Shot,” said the person, “but I’m afraid that you have no other choice. Underground is really our safest option.”

“Oh, come on,” said Roy. “This is my first time wearing my new cologne! I smell amazing! And if I were to go in there, then I’ll come out smelling like a sewer, obviously.”

The person rolled their eyes. How could somebody be this ridiculously dumb? 

“Well, if you get zapped by one of those lightning bolts, then you are going to end up smelling like Kentucky fried Koopa,” they said. “Now come on, the more time we spend out here, the more likely we are to get zapped.” With that, they dived into the manhole. Roy was still hesitant, but upon hearing another thundercrack, he held his nose and dove into the sewer.

It stunk to high heavens in there. Roy was ninety five percent certain that he was going to lose his lunch once he entered. In addition to that, it was dark, so dark that Roy was having trouble seeing his hand right in front of him. 

“Hey...uh...random dude,” said Roy, “are you sure that this was a good idea? I mean, there isn’t even any light in this place…”

As soon as Roy said the word “place,” the whole sewer lit up. After his eyes adjusted to the light, Roy got a chance to take in his surroundings. He had to admit, the sewer looked a bit...cozy. Somehow, somebody had managed to turn it into a cute little home. There was a bed with a floral pattern comforter, a couch that Roy felt the sudden urge to sit on, a mini fridge, and even a little waste basket.

“Woah,” said Roy.

“I know,” said the person. “It isn’t exactly a castle or a bungalow, but it’s my home, and I love it. Except for the smell.” They laughed, and Roy couldn’t help but join in.

“Yeah,” he said, “The smell can pretty much go die in a hole.”

The person removed the hoodie, and when they did, Roy just stared, dumbfounded. They had the most beautiful and luxurious hair that he had ever seen. It was red near the roots, but as you went down it started to turn orange. And then, all the way down near the tips, the hair was a beautiful yellow color. Roy stared at their hair for a solid minute before it occurred to him that he had better say something.

“Oh, um, I’m Roy,” he said.

“I know,” said the person.

“You know?” asked Roy. “Oh, I guess word of my awesomeness must travel pretty quickly around these parts, eh?”

“No, actually, I just know that you live with Bowser,” the person replied.

“Oh,” said Roy. “Well that doesn’t make me look nearly as good.”

The human laughed and extended her hand toward Roy.

“I’m Celia,” she said.

Roy took her hand and gave it a generous shake.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Celia,” he said.

Roy looked down at Celia’s hand, and that was when he noticed something. Her hand looked very similar to his hand. It had a yellow skin tone, and claws that served as the fingernails. In fact, if one were to compare Roy’s hand to Celia’s, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference aside from size. Roy looked into Celia’s face, and it was then that he noticed that her skin, just like her hands, was yellow, the same color as most koopas. Her eyes were also a beautiful, glistening cherry red.

“What is it?” asked Celia, noticing Roy’s concern.

“It’s just...your skin looks a lot like koopa skin,” he said. “And your eyes look a lot like koopa eyes. And your hair...I don’t think anybody but a koopa could have hair like that.”

“Okay,” said Celia.

“But the problem is that you look so much like a human,” said Roy. “You wear clothes, you have a regular nose, and…” Roy looked at his back, where his tail and shell were. Then he took a look at Celia’s back…”And a shell! You don’t have a shell, either!”

Celia looked at her back and smiled.

“Huh, no I guess I don’t,” she said.

“So, which are you?” asked Roy. “Are you human or are you koopa?

Celia’s smile spread even wider.

“Actually, I’m both,” she said. “I’m a half human, half koopa hybrid!”


	2. Her Father Is Who?

Chapter 2 Her Father is Who?

“A half human?” asked Iggy.

Roy was back in Bowser’s Castle, and he was recalling the events of the story to his siblings: Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Lemmy, and Ludwig. In all of the Mushroom World there was not a more wacky or more diversified group of siblings. Whether it be because of the happy go lucky attitude of Lemmy, the superpowers of Ludwig, the obsession with science that Iggy had, or the dark brown skin of Morton, people often had trouble believing that the Koopalings were biologically related.

“That’s what she told me,” said Roy.

Iggy looked completely dumbstruck by the news. The other Koopalings also looked pretty skeptical in regards to it.

“It sounds impossible,” said Ludwig.

“Well, it’s not,” said Roy while stamping his foot on the ground “That girl was a real live genuine halfie...uh, thingy.”

The others exchanged looks.

“Well, I think it sounds neat,” said Lemmy. “It’s like Roy discovered an entirely new species.”

“Yeah, it’s like I’m a scientist or something,” Roy said. “I think that you of all people would be proud of me, Iggy.”

Iggy’s mouth hung open slightly. He was still trying to imagine what Celia looked like.

“I just can’t believe that it is possible for koopas to procreate with humans,” he said quietly.

“Well, it’s possible,” said Roy. “And I met her.”

Iggy’s face took on a more excited expression.

“Roy,” said Iggy, “do you realize how important this discovery could be to my research? You have to bring Celia to me.”

Roy looked a little nervous. He did not like where this was going.

“I do?” he asked apprehensively.

“Yes, you do,” said Iggy, his excitement growing more and more visible with each word that he said. “I have to conduct an interview with her. I’ve got all sorts of questions that I want to ask her. For example, is she warm blooded or cold blooded? Is she a mammal or a reptile? Does she prefer sugar in her coffee or honey? OH, I’M SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN IT!!!”

This outburst caused Roy to recoil. The rest of his siblings came over and patted him on the back.

“Oh man,” said Larry.

“For future reference, when Iggy asks you how you are doing, you should probably stick with an ‘I’m fine,’” said Ludwig. “It will save you a lot of pain.”

The next day, Roy went back into the town to find Celia. It took a little bit of wandering around and searching before it occurred to him where she might be: in her sewer home. So, Roy uncovered the top of the manhole and jumped right in without any second thoughts.

“Celia,” Roy said, “are you home?”

To his total luck, it turned out that she was. She was lounging on the couch, munching on a granola bar.

“Hey,” she said, “I never said that you could come in. What if I was naked?”

“Oops, my bad,” said Roy.

Celia chuckled.

“It’s alright,” she said. She got up and opened the mini fridge. “Do you want a granola bar?”

“Sure,” replied Roy as his stomach grumbled.

Celia tossed him the bar. Roy caught it and immediately began wolfing it down.

“Oh man,” he said between chews, “this is delicious.”

“I know,” said Celia. “Can you believe that some jerks wanted to throw some quality food like this away?”

At the sound of this, Roy stopped dead.

“You..you got this out of a trash can?” Roy asked, his voice rattling with fear and disgust.

“No, no, of course not,” said Celia.

Roy breathed a sigh of relief and resumed with his chewing.

“I got it out of a dumpster,” said Celia.

Roy immediately started spitting out the remains of the chewed up bar. Once that was done, he started wiping his tongue with his hands, trying to get rid of any remnants of the flavor or any tiny little crumbs that might still be in his mouth. He was so busy doing this that he didn’t even notice Celia laughing hysterically until he had finished.

“I was joking,” she said while trying to calm herself down. “I would never do that to you.”

Roy felt relief wash over him. Then he cleared his throat.

“Um, Celia, there’s something that I came to ask you,” he said.

“Okay,” she said as she commenced with chewing on another granola bar.

“You see,” said Roy, “my brother has taken an interest in meeting you because you are a...oh, what’s the word? Hybridge? Hybrick?”

“A hybrid,” said Celia.

“Yeah, that’s the word, a hybrid,” said Roy. “Anyway, as you’ve probably heard, my brother Iggy is a scientist, and he has never heard of a hybrid like you before. He wants to talk to you. So, I came to ask you if you’ll go up to Bowser’s Castle with me.”

Celia ceased with eating her granola bar and just seemed to stare off into space. For a solid minute, Roy couldn’t even tell if she was breathing. Then, the granola bar slipped out of her hand and dropped to the ground.

“Are...are….are you really serious?” she asked, clearly taken aback.

Roy was confused. He wasn’t one who often used verbal irony, and he didn’t think that the statement he just said could be taken as anything other than genuine.

“Yeah, I am serious,” he said.

Celia’s face had one of the biggest and happiest grins that Roy had ever seen in his life, even bigger than the smiles that Iggy would sport whenever he talked about chemistry.

“I can’t believe it,” said Celia, her voice going up an octave. “I’m finally going to the castle!” Celia started jumping up and down and clapping her hands together, like a little kid who just found out that their parents were going to take them to the amusement park.

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” said Roy, “people don’t usually have this big of a freakout when they find out that they are going to meet Iggy.”

“I’m not freaking out because I’m going to meet your brother, dummy,” said Celia. “I’m excited because I’m finally getting a chance to visit Bowser’s Castle. You see, I’ve been wanting to visit the castle for like...well, for forever!”

“How come?” Roy asked.

Celia lowered her voice and motioned for Roy to come a little closer.

“I have a bit of a secret,” she whispered.

Now Roy’s curiosity was piqued. A secret? He liked secrets! He had a few secrets himself. For example, he was terrified of going to the bathroom sitting down. Ever since he was little, he was paranoid that a magmaargh made of water lived in the toilet and would eat him alive if he sat himself down and got too comfortable. He always thought that he had better be ready to run if the monster ever reared its ugly head and decided it was ready for some Roy a la mode for lunch (or dessert).

“What’s your secret?” asked Roy.

Celia giggled like a little baby that had just been tickled.

“I’ll tell you later,” she said.

Roy instantly felt infuriated.

“Oh come on, Celia,” he said, “ YOU’RE KILLING ME!! Why can’t you tell me?”

Celia patted him gently on the shoulder.

“Relax, it’s not like I said I would never tell you,” she said. “I just said I would tell you later.”

Roy gave an exasperated sigh.

“Alright,” he said. “So, what time do you want to go up to the castle?”

“NOW! I WANT TO GO NOW!” Celia screamed.

Roy put his hand on his ear to stop the ringing.

“Hey, settle down,” Roy whispered, “take it down a notch, it’s not like we discovered a gold mine or something.”

“Sorry,” Celia said sheepishly. The two of them then climbed out of the sewer and started their way, on foot, toward the castle. After two hours of walking, the two of them arrived, and Celia was welcomed by the rest of the Koopalings.

“It’s really nice to meet you, Celia,” said Larry as he shook her hand.

“Yes, it is,” said Lemmy while excitedly bouncing up and down. Ludwig came forward and examined Celia from head to toe.

“Well, I’ll be darned,” he said. “She really is half human.”

“Ludwig!” said Wendy while giving him a generous elbowing. “Don’t be rude; she is a person.” She turned toward Celia. “I’m sorry about this.”

If Celia had been a few years younger, she would have been extremely offended by this display. Thankfully for the Koopalings, Celia was used to a few off-handed remarks.

“No, no, it’s alright,” Celia said. “I’m just really excited to get a chance to meet all of the Koopalings in person.”

It was at this point that Iggy decided to come forth. His hands were jiggling to and fro, and he was having trouble staying in one place. Everyone in the room could tell that he was excited. 

“Celia,” he said, “I just want you to know that I have been extremely excited to meet you.”

“Well,” said Celia, “it sure is nice to meet a fan.”

Iggy let out a chuckle. 

“I’ve just never met a koopa-human hybrid before!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t even think it was possible. It’s an anomaly. You are an anomaly, Celia!”

Celia beamed.

“Well, if you think that’s cool, then you guys are really going to get a kick out of this,” she said as she started walking away from the group. “I’m not just a hybrid. I am the Koopa Kingdom’s long lost princess.”

The Koopalings exchanged looks with each other. Princess? What in the world was she talking about?

“Uh, excuse me,” said Wendy, “but when you say that you’re a princess, you don’t mean that…’’

Celia’s smile grew even wider.

“That’s right,” she said as she turned around. “My father is none other than the one, the only….King Bowser!!!”


	3. Beanbean Road Trip

Chapter 3 Beanbean Road Trip

The room was filled with silence. None of the Koopalings dared to speak as Celia stared at them, beaming as if somebody told her that her birthday was going to be celebrated everyday. 

“Wait...what?” asked Larry, causing the silence to crumble like an unsturdy jenga tower.

“I know right?” exclaimed Celia joyously. “Isn’t this great? This means we’re siblings! Well, sort of, technically you guys were adopted by Bowser. But still!” Celia approached Larry, Lemmy and Morton and wrapped them all in a hug that would make a grizzly bear go as red as a beet. Lemmy was the only one who returned the hug; Larry and Morton tried to escape from it as if they were being strangled by the Grim Reaper.

“Wait, hold on just a Goomba squashing minute,” said Wendy. “How do you know that Bowser is your father?”

“Well that’s easy,” said Celia as she allowed her three hug victims some time to breathe, “my mom told me. She said it was on a dark stormy night, long long ago. Mom was just walking home from a long day of work when it started to rain. Now, she didn’t have an umbrella, so she began to run. Unfortunately, she was wearing high heels, so she tripped and fell. And who was there to help her back up? None other than the Koopa King himself! It was love at first sight.”

Celia let out a dreamy sigh. She had clearly been told this story multiple times, and had recounted it even more. She loved the story, was probably obsessed with it. 

“Hold on,” said Ludwig. “If you’re Bowser’s daughter, how come he’s never told us about you? I think if he would tell a secret like that to anybody, it would be us.” 

Celia shrugged.

“It probably never crossed his mind,” she said casually. “He’s a pretty busy guy, after all. And even if it did, he probably wanted to keep it a secret. It isn’t hard for secrets to get leaked to the paparazzi, and he most likely wanted to protect my mom and me from all that exposure.”

The Koopalings exchanged looks of disbelief, incredulity and skepticism. How could Celia possibly believe this so deeply? It was crazy. The whole story was crazy. She was crazy. Either that or she was mind bogglingly stupid.

“Well, there is only one way for us to know for sure,” announced Iggy. “We need to do a DNA test.”

Iggy took the lot of them down to his lab. They all waited expectantly while he deciphered the code. 

“Well?” asked Larry when Iggy was finished.

Iggy took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, as if he were exhausted. 

“The machine couldn’t even read her DNA,” he said in dismay. “It was so wonky that it thought I was giving it the DNA of an alien to read.”

An awkward sound escaped from Celia’s mouth. It sounded like a cross between a giggle, a scoff, and a snort.

“So what are we supposed to do now?” asked Larry curiously.

Iggy put his glasses back on and let out a sigh.

“I suppose we will just have to just ask Bowser personally,” he said.

“How are we gonna do that?” asked Ludwig. “Bowser and Kamek are in the Beanbean Kingdom, and they won’t be back for another three weeks.”

There was another moment of silence. None of the Koopalings were willing to make eye contact with Ludwig.

“Oh no,” he said, “you guys don’t mean…”

“I do hear that the Beanbean Kingdom is really pretty this time of year,” said Roy.

Ludwig’s mouth gawked open. His brow scrunched up and his expression transformed into an angry scowl.

“Celia, will you excuse us for just a minute?” Ludwig asked. He pulled his siblings out of the lab into the hallway, where Celia wouldn’t be able to hear them.

“You guys can’t possibly be serious,” Ludwig stated. “You want us to go all the way to the Beanbean Kingdom just because some...some...weirdo believes that Bowser is her father? Do you realize how crazy that sounds?”

“Look, I’ll admit that Celia’s claim might be a little unrealistic….” started Iggy.

“Unrealistic? It’s bonkers!” said Ludwig. “Bowser would never do something like that!”

“I don’t know,” said Lemmy. “I mean, he does like to kidnap Princess Peach all the time.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t want to have babies with her!” said Ludwig. “He doesn’t want to have babies with anyone! He knows the laws of this kingdom.”

The Koopalings nodded. By law, the king of the Koopa Kingdom was allowed to have only one child. That way, there would be an heir to the throne. Bowser had honored that law when he had his only biological son: Bowser Jr.

“That is true,” said Wendy. “But he did bend the one child law a little bit when he adopted us.”

“That’s different,” said Ludwig. “We aren’t his biological children. If what Celia says is true, than that means that she would be the rightful heir to the throne. Since we aren’t technically related to Bowser, we don’t inherit anything.”

“But do you think that Bowser would break the law?” asked Larry.

“Well, what do you think?” asked Ludwig, turning his head to Larry. Larry started to stutter.

“I...I...I,” he said, “I’m not sure.”

“Are you kidding me?” said Ludwig. His hands were beginning to be engulfed by a blue flame, signifying that he was angry. “You actually think that what Celia is saying is plausible? That’s dumb! You are dumb, Larry!”

“Alright, that’s enough,” said Morton. Ludwig lowered his head as the flames dampened.

“My apologies,” he said. Morton smiled.

“Now,” Morton said quietly, “I am aware that you are incredulous toward Celia’s story. I admit, I am as well. But don’t you think we should at least help her out?”

The door to the lab opened and Celia stepped out into the hallway.

“Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt anything important,” said Celia, “but I was wondering if we were going to head out any time soon?”

Iggy put on a smile. It looked forced and actually a little painful.

“Suuuure..” he said, his voice sounding strained, “of course we’re going to be heading out.”

Celia jumped up in the air. Ludwig flashed Iggy a dirty look but didn’t utter a single hateful word.

“I don’t think we should use an airship, though,” said Wendy. “Remember how Kamek got angry when we trashed one last week?”

“Oh, don’t remind me,” said Roy with a shutter. “I still have nightmares over that stuff.”

“I don’t even think ‘trashed’ would be the right word,” said Larry as he crossed his arms. “We left one candy wrapper next to the steering wheel. One wrapper.”

“Either way,” said Iggy, “I think that the wisest decision would be to find another way to get into the Beanbean Kingdom.”


	4. Masters of Disguise

Chapter 4 Masters of Disguise

“How in the world are we going to get on the train without being noticed?” asked Larry.

Right now, the group was behind a rock overlooking a town that had a train station. The train was what was going to transport them to the Beanbean Kingdom. The only problem that they faced was the fact that the town was populated by toads, who were at odds against koopas. If the group walked through the town, trouble would be sure to follow them.

“I have no idea,” said Roy cluelessly.

“What we need is some sort of disguise,” said Iggy. “Something that will mask our reptilian attributes.”

“If only we knew some magic spells,” said Lemmy. “Then we would be able to transform.”

Celia scoffed.

“I don’t need magic,” she said. “I’ve already got a foolproof system.”

When she said that, she pulled the hood over her head, putting her flame bright hair into hiding. Out of her pockets she brought out a pair of woolly black gloves and some sunglasses. She put those on too, making her koopa-like hands and her ruby red eyes disappear. Now, aside from the golden yellow skin on her face, Celia looked like a regular human girl.

“See?” she said. “What did I tell you?”

“Wow,” said Ludwig sarcastically. “I’m so impressed. Why don’t you try putting on a hat next time? I think that would really bring down the house.”

Celia ignored his remark.

“Now all we need to do is find a foolproof system for you guys,” she said.

“But what exactly would that be?” asked Larry curiously. He had no idea how they could disguise themselves in a way that would fool the toads. Celia could get away with simply putting on a pair of sunglasses and some gloves because she was half human. The Koopalings weren’t blessed with the human DNA that Celia had, and because of that hiding their race would be nearly impossible.

“Yeah,” said Ludwig. “If sunglasses could get away with hiding us then Roy would be invisible.”

“Hey!” Roy said. “You trying to be mean?” 

“No, not at all,” Ludwig said .

“I think you are,” said Roy as he balled his hands into fists and displayed them out front. “You wanna go, Luddy boy?”

“For telling the truth?” said Ludwig. “No, I don’t. And besides, I would crush you.”

“You don’t know that,” said Roy as he started to shuffle. “I work out regularly and am really strong.”

“Well I can generate fire and electricity from my hands and can move objects with my mind,” said Ludwig. “We haven’t even started the brawl yet and you’ve already lost.”

Roy became hesitant. He knew what Ludwig was saying was true; however, he still wanted to defend his honor.

“Yeah, well...well,” he began, “I can...I can…”

Ludwig gave Roy a bored and incredulous look and raised his hand. He pointed at Roy and a blue colored lightning bolt traveled from Ludwig’s finger to Roy’s skin. It wasn’t big, but it was large enough to sting Roy, who yelped in pain when the bolt made contact. Scowling at Ludwig, he rubbed his arm and and backed away, grumbling under his breath.

“Anyway,” said Iggy, “what kind of ‘foolproof system’ do you have in mind Celia?”

Celia grinned.

“I’m glad you asked, Iggy,” she said as she motioned to the Koopalings. “Follow me.”

The Koopalings followed Celia into a warp pipe. When they came out on the other side, they found a costume store that sold costumes specifically designed for koopas. This was a lifesaver for them. While the costumes wouldn’t get rid of their koopa features, it would hide most of them from the outside world. The Koopalings eagerly started browsing the racks. There was one, however, who was having trouble.

As Roy was looking at the costumes, he had a very noticeable frown on his face. He wanted to find something that was just perfect. Unfortunately, everything that he found didn’t meet his satisfaction. When he pulled a fireman costume from off the rack, he shook his head.

“Nah,” he said, “to baggy. And besides, it doesn’t show off nearly enough of my muscles.” (Just a side note, Roy doesn’t know how to pronounce the word “muscles” correctly. He ends up saying the normally silent ‘c’ so that the word sounds like “mus-ckles.”) After he put the fireman costume back, Roy did some more browsing and eventually came across a spider costume.

“Nope, too creepy,” he said. “Besides, I don’t want to get sprayed by pesticide.”

Next, Roy pulled out a pair of navy overalls, a green shirt, and a green cap that had an ‘L’ on the front. At this, Roy cringed.

“Bleh,” he said. “What idiot would want to wear a costume like this?”

Roy put the costume back on the rack and sighed.

“Man,” he said, “this place doesn’t have anything good.”

Suddenly, Roy spotted a koopa walking down the aisle. He was wearing an orange, plaid checkered suit and looked rather cross.

“Ooh,” said Roy, approaching the man, “that looks good. What aisle did you find that on?”

“I BROUGHT THIS FROM HOME!” stormed the koopa.

“Oh,” Roy said. “Got any other cool costumes back there?”

The koopa man gave a scoff of contempt and punched Roy into the aisle. Roy went flying (and you have to be in pretty good shape in order to make Roy Koopa go flying). Fortunately, he wasn’t severely hurt, and he happened to land on a very slick looking astronaut costume .

“Oh hey,” Roy said while picking it up, “cool. Now where was this on aisle twenty four?” With that, he headed toward the changing room.

Meanwhile, Iggy and Larry were busy trying on their costumes. Larry had on a superhero costume, complete with a cape and mask, which he thought he looked very appealing in. Iggy, on the other hand, had on a wizard costume, and was having trouble trying to find a hat that could fit over his ginormous chartreuse mohawk. The two of them were just minding their own business when suddenly, Lemmy burst out of the changing room. He was sporting a peach colored cat costume and was running at full speed.

“Look out!!” he yelled sillily. He rammed head first into Larry, causing the two of them to topple into the table where the hats lay.

“Man, Lemmy,” said Larry. “Did you find somebody’s hoard of hidden candy stashed away in the changing room?”

“Nope,” he said happily, “I just really like kitty cats. The only problem is that I have trouble seeing when the head is pulled down.”

“Well then why don’t you get another costume?” asked Iggy with a note of concern in his voice.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” asked Lemmy. Then he laughed and skipped away down the aisles, singing a comical little tune all the way. Ludwig emerged from the changing room, wearing a rockstar costume. It came complete with makeup, a wig, and a guitar.

“Wow,” said Larry. “Nice costume, Ludwig.” Ludwig sighed.

“Thanks,” he said. “I wanted to wear a Baroque period composer outfit, but they didn’t have one. So, unfortunately, I’m stuck with this.”

Iggy laughed.

“Well, I wouldn’t expect to find something like that in a store like this,” he said.

“Yeah,” said Roy as he came out of the changing room. “This place was made in mind for the people who aren’t music nerds.”

Ludwig glared at Roy. With a piercing stare, he went over to the checkout counter with Larry, Iggy, Roy, and Lemmy behind him.

“The five of us would like to buy the costumes we are wearing,” Ludwig said. “And two more costumes in addition to that.”

“Okay,” said the cashier. “Who is paying?”

“Ludwig von Koopa,” Ludwig responded. The others burst out laughing.

“Oh come on, that’s not your name,” said Larry with a smile.

“Yeah come on Ludwig, be honest,” said Roy.

Ludwig looked embarrassed. He sucked in his breath.

“I mean Ludwig...Vanessa Koopa,” he said in a grumbly tone. Iggy, Larry, Roy, and Lemmy stifled back giggles while Celia scratched her head in confusion.

“Ludwig Vanessa?” she asked Iggy.

“Oh, we koopas have a tradition,” said Iggy. “You see, since koopas hatch from eggs, there is no way for the parents to determine the gender of the baby before birth. So, the parents assign two names to the baby: a male name and a female name. When the baby is born, they don’t completely dispose of the name belonging to the opposite gender; instead, they assign it as the child’s middle name.”

“Oh,” said Celia. She giggled, amused by the idea. 

“For example, my name is Lawrence Octavia,” said Larry while grinning.

“Mine is Roy Allison,” said Roy. “It might seem like an oddball name to some, but I pull it off.”

“Yeah,” said Lemmy, “and Ludwig’s full name is..”

“VON!” Ludwig shouted. Despite the female middle name thing being a tradition in koopa culture, Ludwig was embarrassed by the whole ordeal. “Von. Not Vanessa, Von. At least it will be once I get my tail down to a courthouse. But until then, I want all of you to be silent on the matter. You hear? Silent!” With that, Ludwig headed for the door. Roy, Larry, Lemmy, and Celia all followed him out. Iggy stayed behind and turned toward somebody dressed in a rainbow pegasus costume.

“Okay,” said Iggy to the koopa in the costume, ”the train heads toward the Beanbean Kingdom in half an hour, so we had better get moving. Are you ready to head out, Wendy?”

“Uh, that’s not Wendy.”

Iggy turned around and spotted a koopa wearing a knight costume. The koopa pulled up the visor, revealing Wendy’s face.

“I am,” said Wendy.

“Oh,” said Iggy. “Then who is…”

The koopa in the costume took off the head, revealing....

“Morton!” exclaimed Iggy. “Why in the world are you wearing that?”

“Couldn’t find anything else in my size,” he responded nonchalantly. If Iggy didn’t know any better, he would’ve sworn that Morton didn’t know what he was wearing.

“Well, there are a whole bunch of bigger costumes in the back,” said Wendy as she pointed near the back room.

“Nah,” said Morton as he plumped the pony head back on. “I think I’ll stick with this.”


	5. Masters of Disguise 2: The Subpar Sequel

Chapter 5 Masters of Disguise 2: The Subpar Sequel

The Koopalings and Celia were all heading toward the train station. The pressure of the situation was really on their shoulders. If they were discovered, then they would be brought before Princess Peach and potentially thrown into prison. None of the party members wanted that to happen, but one Koopaling who was feeling the intensity more than any of the others was Wendy. She was quivering like a leaf in the wind, and whimpering in addition to that. One person who took immediate interest in Wendy’s state was Morton.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Wendy’s head rattled as she shook it.

“Oh, you know me,” she whispered nervously. To try and pacify herself, she started to furiously twidle her thumbs. “I’ve never been very comfortable among crowds. Especially if the crowd consists of nothing but our arch nemeses!!!”

Morton patted Wendy gently on the back. As the most level headed of the group, he was used to seeing his siblings have a freakout once or twice. He just hoped that this freakout wouldn’t call any attention to them (as he was starting to notice that the costumes were beginning to have that effect).

“Do you think I picked the right costume?” Wendy whispered. “I’m starting to think that this knight costume makes me look like a giant metal robot. Or a fat metal tube. Does this costume make me look fat?”

“No, it doesn’t,” Morton whispered in response. He patted Wendy on the back again, making sure to avoid her shell. Morton hoped that the toads at the ticket booth wouldn’t notice the fact that seven out of the eight members of their party had humongous, monstrous shells gapping out from underneath their costumes. Morton knew that if any toads took interest in that, then they were toast for sure.

Meanwhile, Larry and Ludwig were having a conversation of their very own. Ludwig has a habit of wearing a long, draping blue cloak, and he had taken the liberty of wearing that over his costume. Larry wasn’t to keen on that, and he was letting Ludwig know.

“Dude, why are you wearing that thing?” he asked. “It completely defeats the point of wearing the costume.”

“No, it does not,” said Ludwig. “And besides, I really like this cloak. I’ve worn it ever since I was six.”

“Why?” asked Larry, still miffed as to why Ludwig took such a liking to the cloak in the first place. “Wouldn’t you just get a new one? What is so special about that one in particular?”

Ludwig put his hand on the button of the cloak and dusted it off, taking careful time to make sure that the jewel shone as bright as the sun on a summer day.

“I like the button,” he said at last.

“What’s so special about…”

Before Larry could finish, he was silenced by Iggy. They had arrived at the ticket booth, and Celia was talking to the toad who operated it.

“Hi,” she said. “I would like eight tickets to the Beanbean Kingdom, please.” Celia even flashed the toad a smile, just for good measure. The toad raised an eyebrow at Celia and glanced over her shoulder at the Koopalings. Those who had their mouths visible despite their masks also flashed the toad some cheery, bright (as well as kind of nervous) smiles. The toad made a weird face, as if he was looking at a mess that his children made in their room.

“Not that it’s any of my business,” he said, “but what’s with the costumes?”

Celia chuckled. She seemed to be completely unfazed by unease.

“Oh, we’re just heading off to a comic book convention,” she said. “We’re all dressed as our favorite characters.”

The toad raised an eyebrow.

“So, there is a comic book in the world where the main character is... a magical rainbow pegasus?” he asked skeptically after spotting Morton in his outfit.

“Oh yes,” said Celia happily and smoothly. “It’s called... ‘Rainbow Mare and the Pony Posse Pals.’ Trust me, it’s got a surprising fanbase.”

The toad didn’t seem to buy that. He gave Celia a death stare.

“Really?” he asked threateningly.

“Do I seem like the kind of person who would lie to strangers?” she asked.

The toad continued to deliver his deadly gaze. Then, he eased his brow and let out a smile

“No, you don’t,” he said.

Celia laughed, and the Koopalings let out long held breaths.

“I do have another question for you, though,” the toad said. “Where do you get your unique coloring from?”

At this question, Celia stiffened up.

“My...my coloring?”

The breath that the Koopalings had been holding was instantly sucked back in. What will Celia say to this? 

“Oh, that,” she said as she let out another laugh. “You see, this is a result of a really bad spray-on tan that I got at the mall.”

“A spray on tan?” asked the toad, suddenly engaged.

“Yep,” said Celia. “Although, if you if you think that this is bad, you should’ve seen what they did to me last year. I turned purple for two straight weeks!”

The toad gawked at her.

“Oh my,” he said. “You know, I got a coupon for a free spray-on tan at the mall just yesterday.”

“Yeah, I’d throw that out if I were you,” she said. She motioned for the toad to come closer and whispered into his ear: “Between you and me; if it’s free, that probably means that you’re going to be even worse off.”

The toad put his hand over his mouth.

“Oh my,” he said.

“Yeah,” said Celia in response. “Now, about those tickets.”

The toad smiled. Then, out of his desk he pulled out eight tickets printed on pink paper.

“You board on Platform 4,” said the toad ticket agent. “Your train leaves in twenty minutes, so you had better hurry up.”

Celia and the Koopalings paid for their tickets, thanked the ticket agent and hurried to get on the train. Once they got on, it felt like a big weight was lifted off of all of their shoulders. The amount of toads that were around them had substantially decreased, so everyone was allowed to just sit back and relax. 

“I don’t know about any of you guys,” said Larry as he leaned back in his seat, “but I am actually looking forward to this trip.”

“I have anticipation for this trek as well,” said Iggy. He started to bounce up and down in his seat. “I’ve heard rumors about an undead gorilla that lurks near the caves of Teehee Valley. It has been said that it has a hoard of treasure in the cave that it dwells in.”

“Treasure?” Wendy asked.

“Oh yes,” Iggy said. “I’m guessing that it was a Kongickus hoardisus during its life. That species is notorious for foraging objects of value and accumulating a hoard of them.”

Larry chuckled and elbowed his sister.

“I bet Wendy was a Kongickus hoardisus in a past life,” he said.

The others laughed. Wendy scowled at Larry.

“Hey,” she said. “Just because I keep a little bit of jewelry in my room…”

“A little?” said Lemmy.

“Wendy, you have so much stuff in your room that it makes the Koopa Kingdom National Treasury look tame,” said Ludwig. 

Wendy’s scowl became darker. It looked like there was going to be a fight. Thankfully, Morton stepped in. 

“Why don’t we all go down to the dining car?” he suggested.

The Koopalings liked that idea. Well, they would have liked any idea if it didn’t involve Wendy murdering them, so they took Morton’s suggestion and went down to the dining car. Once they were all seated, one of the dining staff came up to them

“Would any of you like to try some Chuckola Cola?” she asked.

The Koopalings exchanged looks with one another.

“Chuckola Cola?” asked Lemmy. “What in the Mushroom World is Chuckola Cola?”

“It’s a soda from the Beanbean Kingdom,” she said. “Made from fruit from deep within the Chucklehuck Woods, it is the Beanbean Kingdom’s most prized delicatesse.”

The lady produced eight bottles of the “prized soda.” When the gang saw it, they thought that she must have been sorely mistaken. The liquid in the bottles didn’t look like anything special. It was perfectly clear, just like water.

“Of course, Chuckola Cola is a special soda,” she continued. “In order for it to fully mature, you need to tell it some soda based puns.” With that, she walked away, leaving the beverages on the table. Lemmy and Larry stared at each other, and Lemmy started to develop a devious, impish grin on his face.

“Soda based puns, eh?” he said. Wendy, Ludwig and Iggy groaned.

“No, please no,” said Wendy.

“Isn’t it a little too late in the day for puns?” asked Ludwig, who downright despised it when Lemmy delivered a bad pun. Lemmy put his hand on his heart, as if Ludwig had just said the most shocking thing in the whole wide world.

“It is never too late in the day for puns!” Lemmy exclaimed.

“Yeah,” said Larry. “Puns are good, wholesome fun for the whole family!”

Ludwig scoffed.

“If by ‘wholesome’ and ‘fun’ you mean ‘annoying’ and ‘nauseating’ then you would be right on the mark,” he murmured under his breath.

Lemmy ignored him and started to giggle.

“So, Larry, are you ready?” he asked.

Larry frowned.

“Oh, you know Lemmy, I’m starting to have second thoughts,” he said.

“Really?” asked Lemmy, not sure where this was going to go.

“Yeah,” Larry said. All of a sudden, he smiled. “I’m not sure if I can do this.”

Lemmy burst into a fit of laughter. Those who were observing the bottles of Chuckola Cola noticed that it changed from a clear color to a slight pink.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you, Larry,” said Lemmy after he had calmed down. “Normally, puns just seem to pop into my head.”

Now it was Larry’s turn to start laughing.

“Oh by the way, Larry,” said Lemmy, smiling like a crazed hyena. “The trash is overflowing back at home. Can you take care of that? I think that will cap off your chores for the day.”

“Oh, sorry Lems,” said Larry, “but I think I’ll be a little too fizzy.”

Lemmy and Larry laughed crazily. The others, brow beaten by this whole affair, sat shaking their heads.

“Be thankful that you have visible ears, Celia,” said Ludwig scornfully.

Celia, who unlike some of the others had been chuckling at the jokes that the two had been telling, stared at Ludwig in bewilderment.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because you have the ability to cover them,” he responded.

Celia got a smile on her face, much bigger than the smiles that Larry and Lemmy had been sporting.

“Oh,” she said, “were those jokes a little hard for you to swallow?”

Both Larry and Lemmy burst into the biggest fit of laughter ever known to man or koopa. Ludwig stared at Celia, looking ticked off to high heavens.

“Don’t get on my bad side,” he said quietly and ominously. He then picked up a bottle of Chuckola Cola, which by now had turned a deep magenta, and started chugging it down like it was his supply of oxygen. 

After this, everyone went off in their own seperate directions. Roy and Celia went off together onto an empty train car, away from the other Koopalings. During this time, Roy couldn’t help but think about how beautiful Celia is. He wanted to take her somewhere special. Maybe to a nice movie, or perhaps to a beach at sunset. Maybe he could even get her a nice gift, like a puppy. He heard that chicks go crazy and drooly over stuff like that. As well as babies, but Roy wasn’t sure if getting Celia a baby would be the best idea.

“What’s he like?” asked Celia, pulling Roy back down to reality.

“What was that?” Roy asked, slightly disoriented. Celia chuckled.

“I meant Bowser,” she said. “Is he nice to you?”

Roy hesitated. It wasn’t as if this was necessarily a hard question. It’s just he didn’t know where to start with answering it.

“Well...sure,” he said. “I mean, he’s Bowser. Bowser is nice to pretty much everyone. Well, except if you’re someone like Mario.” Roy reconsidered what he said for a minute. “Or Luigi. Or Yoshi. Or any of the toads. Really, if you’re anybody who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom, you can really dampen his day.”

Celia looked a little disappointed and slightly taken aback.

“Oh,” she said. “Do you think...he’ll be disappointed in the fact that I am half human?”

Roy felt like some little guy should be waving red flags in the background. He had a feeling that he was entering delicate territory at this point and should probably choose his next words carefully, otherwise he would be in danger of seriously offending his new friend.

“No, no, of course not,” he said. “If you’re his daughter, then he’d probably be willing to accept you in with open arms.”

Celia’s eyebrows scrunched up and she glared at Roy.

“What do you mean if I’m his daughter,” she asked with an offended tone. “Of course I’m his daughter. What would make you think otherwise?”

Roy gulped. This was exactly what he hoped wouldn’t happen.

“Well, we still aren’t one hundred percent certain,” he said. He had a feeling that his brow would be riddled with sweat if he were warm blooded. “Your mom could have made the whole story up, you know.”

“Hey, my mom is not a liar!” said Celia. She shouted so loud that Roy was certain that people two train cars over shuttered. “She would never do that to me. She is a great person. Is, was, and always will be!” Celia sat down in an empty seat. Although she wouldn’t admit it to Roy, she was having doubts about her mother’s honesty as well. She started to cry, which made Roy feel like pig slop.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to call your mom a liar. I’m sure you’re right; she’s probably a great person and was probably right about this.”

Celia used her hand to dry off the tears that had been rolling down her cheek.

“You’re right,” she said. She smiled. “You know, I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet Bowser. Ever since I was told that he is my father, I’ve begged my mom incessantly for us to go down to the castle and introduce ourselves to him. But despite all my badgering, she always said no. Her reason being was that he was way too busy. And I understood that.”

Celia took a sip of the Chuckola Cola, which she had brought along with her, before continuing on.

“But I am glad that I ran into you,” she said. “Don’t you think it was fate that brought us together on that street corner?”

Roy thought about this. He didn’t know if he believed in things like fate.

“Uhhh...sure,” he said after a while. “I’m sure that our meeting was supposed to be a real fateful whos a me whatsit. In fact, I bet that if we hadn’t met the universe would have imploded…”

“You don’t believe in fate, do you?” said Celia.

“No, not really,” said Roy. “The belief that the universe has a plan and is watching everything that I do is kind of creepy.” Roy shuttered. “Doesn’t the universe know that I have a right to privacy?” 

Celia laughed and took another swig from the Chuckola Cola bottle.

“That’s funny,” she said as she examined the bottle. “You know, this stuff is really good.”

“Really?” asked Roy. He took the bottle out of Celia’s hands and tasted the Cola. “It just tastes like apple cider to me.” He made a face. “I’m not the biggest fan of apple cider.”

Celia chuckled.

“Well,” she said as she took the bottle back, “I guess that means there’s more for me.”

“Then what am I supposed to drink?” asked Roy as he playfully shoved Celia.

Celia spotted a potted ice flower on the window sill. She took the flower out and handed the rest to Roy.

“Here,” she said “Mix this dirt with your spit and drink that up.”

Roy cringed in disgust.

“No way in World Eight am I doing that!” he said.

“Come on, I bet it’s good,” Celia said through a fit of laughter. “You can just tell yourself that it’s a chocolate milkshake!” She stopped laughing and stared at the pot. “I wonder what the nutritional value of dirt is?”

“Okay, get out of here,” said Roy with a smile, letting her know not to take what he was saying seriously. Celia resumed with her laughing.

“These are the things that I think about,” she said. Her tone indicated that she was making a joke. Roy didn’t find it funny, but he chuckled anyway. He felt that he owed her a laugh after the fight that they had just had. Celia smiled. She liked the sound of Roy’s laugh.

The train whistled in the background.

“It’s getting late,” Roy said. “The train should be at the station by morning, so we should be getting some rest.” Roy turned and headed for the door. “Good night, Celia.”

“Good night, Roy,” she responded. With that, Roy headed back to his siblings to turn in for the night.


	6. Dry Bones Battle

The time was around midnight. The train was chugging smoothly down the tracks, and all the passengers were fast asleep. The Koopalings in particular were out cold. It didn’t seem like anything could stir them from their deep slumber. Suddenly, a big bang resounded on top of the train. It made the whole steam engine rattle and shake, and it managed to awaken Iggy and Ludwig from their midnight zzzs.

“Ludwig,” asked Iggy with concern, “did you hear that?”

“Yeah, why do you think I’m awake, genius,” said Ludwig groggily as he rubbed his eyes. 

There was another loud bang. It sounded like a gunshot that had been muffled because the gun had been put in a semi-soundproof room. Iggy and Ludwig exited their room and looked up at the ceiling, where a series of thuds resounded. It sounded like something was walking on top of the train. Something extremely big.

“Go wake up the others,” said Ludwig firmly. “I’m going to check outside.”

Iggy jogged down the hallways and knocked on the doors of Celia and his siblings, his heart beating at a thousand miles an hour. With his fear escalating with each passing minute, it didn’t even occur to him that the train had made a premature stop.

“What’s going on?” asked Roy once everyone had gathered in the hallway.

“Yeah, and why did the train stop?” asked Lemmy. “Did we reach the station already? I thought we weren’t supposed to get there until morning.”

The thuds on top of the train returned. Everyone shuttered.

“That didn’t sound good,” said Celia worriedly. 

The door on the side of the traincar opened up, allowing Ludwig to come back inside.

“Guys,” he said, “I think you might want to see this.”

The group rushed to the doorway, and when they glanced outside an audible gasped erupted from the lot of them. The train had stopped in a desert, Teehee Valley to be exact, and all across the desert floor were hundreds of thousands of dry bones. The Koopalings were used to seeing dry bones, even in large quantities such as this. But they were not used to seeing dry bones that looked murderously angry at them.

“Oh man,” said Larry. “We are so dead.”

“Yeah,” said Roy. “It was nice knowing you.”

One of the dry bones threw a bone at Lemmy, knocking him to the ground. This caused all of the dry bones to rush at the train.

“Jump!” screamed Iggy.

Celia and the Koopalings jumped out of the train and started attacking the dry bones. Most bounced on top of them, but Wendy, Morton, and Ludwig had their own methods of attack. Wendy hurled her bracelets at the dry bones like boomerangs, Morton went into his shell and slammed into the them, and Ludwig flew up into the air and hurled blue fireballs at them via pyrokinesis. No matter what method of attack was used, however, the efforts proved to be futile as the dry bones regenerated.

“It’s no use,” said Iggy in dismay after he had squashed another skeleton. “We’re not making any progress.”

“Ludwig, how are you doing?” cried Wendy so that her brother could hear her. Ludwig hurled another fireball at a dry bones. The dry bones didn’t even get singed; when the fireball hit it, the fire simply bounced off the surface of its smooth, crackly bones.

“They’re immune to my fire!” screamed Ludwig in amazement. 

“So what do we do now?” asked Larry. The dry bones were now closing in on the eight of them. Celia put her hand on her chin, considering the situation.

“Wait a minute!” she exclaimed. “I’ve got an idea!” With that, she rushed back onto the train. Roy, filled with curiosity, followed her.

“Celia!” he yelled. “What are you doing?”

Celia didn’t turn around or stop running as she explained her plan to Roy.

“The dry bones are immune to fire,” she said. “But they might not necessarily be immune to ice.”

“Ice?” asked Roy. “What do you mean?”

Celia stopped running and picked up something beside a window. Roy saw that it was the ice flower that Celia had pulled out of the pot from earlier.

“You want to use that?” asked Roy. “But Celia, it’s impossible for koopas to use power ups from the Mushroom Kingdom.”

Celia smiled.

“It might be impossible for koopas,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible for me.” With that, she gobbled up the ice flower, roots and all.   
Roy stood back in amazement to see what would happen, if anything. Then, Celia’s entire body transformed into a living ice sculpture. Roy was amazed and a little horrified.

“Woah,” Roy said. “Celia, how do you feel?”

“Like my insides have been turned into a freezer,” she cried, and ran toward the exit of the train with Roy trailing behind her. It wasn’t until Roy started slipping due to a lack of traction that he realized that Celia wasn’t running at all. The ice flower had granted her the ability to create ice at her leisure, and she was using that ability to create an ice trail for herself to skate on. Roy couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of this. Man, that girl is awesome, he thought dreamily to himself.

Celia burst out of the train doorway like an energetic firecracker, animated and ready to make ice. The Koopalings cheered as she skated along and threw snowballs at her foes, encasing them in pure ice. In no time at all, the entire throng of dry bones was encased in a sheet of rock hard ice. When Celia had finished, the power up’s effects wore off, and the Koopalings applauded.

“That was awesome, Celia!” exclaimed Larry.

“Ah, it was nothing,” she said.

“Nothing?” said Iggy. “You pretty much obliterated a whole army of dry bones all by yourself without lifting a finger! We really need to get you as a boss of a stage the next time we go princess-napping; I think you could be a useful asset to the team.”

Celia blushed, making her whole face go an interesting shade of orange. Lemmy started to giggle like a little kid, causing everyone to turn his way.

“What is it, Lems?” asked Wendy with a raised eyebrow.

“I just thought of another pun,” he said between chortles. “I don’t know if I should say it, though.”

Wendy and Ludwig exchanged looks. Ludwig sighed irritably.

“Go ahead,” he said. Lemmy grinned.

“Thanks, Ludwig,” he said. “Alright, what do you call it when you are hurling snowballs at your enemies? Throwing foeballs!” His laughter grew harder and he slapped his knee. Ludwig shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“Oh, the world I live in,” he said. 

Suddenly, the group heard a loud bang come from the top of the train. They turned around nervously, and the sight they saw made them freeze. There, on top of the train, was none other than the infamous undead gorilla of Teehee Valley. The monster roared and jumped down to the ground. He grabbed Roy, the closest person to him, and ran off into the night.


	7. Three Koopas in a Cave

Chapter 7 Three Koopas in a Cave

Roy felt nothing but shock and panic fill his mind as he was carried off into the night on the back of the skeleton gorilla. Why did the gorilla capture him? Where was it going? It wasn’t going to...eat him, was it? Roy hoped not. He didn’t want to end his life swimming in the stomach of a skeleton.

All around him, the scenery was going dark. Oh no, Roy thought. The skeleton gorilla really had eaten me alive. Now it’s just a matter of time before I am digested. Goodbye lovely Mushroom world! You will be missed!

All of a sudden, Roy felt as if he had been dropped on cold, hard, solid ground. Huh, he thought, I didn’t expect the stomach of the skeleton gorilla to be so...Roy knocked on the ground and felt around in the dark...rocky. He had been expecting something more squishy and acidic.

“Hello?” Roy muttered, not really expecting anybody to answer him back.

“Roy, is that you?” asked a voice in the darkness. Roy was so scared that he jumped to his feet and started running around frantically.

“Aaaahhh!” he screamed. “The stomach of the skeleton gorilla is filled with ghosts!” Roy started banging on the walls. “Let me out, skeleton monster! Vomit me up; I want to get out of here!”

All of a sudden, the place filled with light. Roy saw that he wasn’t in the stomach of the skeleton gorilla, but rather a gargantuan cave.

“Roy, don’t get yourself in a tizzy,” said a familiar voice. “We aren’t in a skeleton’s stomach. The very idea of that is paradoxically ludicrous.”

Roy turned one hundred eighty degrees and was both surprised and delighted to see Bowser and Kamek standing there. He rushed over to them.

“Bowser! Kamek!” he shouted.

“Roy!” said Bowser. “What in the Mushroom World are you doing here?”

“Well, I was just dragged in by a giant skeleton gorilla,” Roy said.

“No, we saw that part,” said Kamek the wizard, who was using a flashlight to light up the cavern. “We were wondering what you are doing in the Beanbean Kingdom.”

“Oh, me and the gang came here on a train in order to speak to Bowser,” Roy said. “What are you guys doing locked in a cavern all by yourselves?”

Bowser chuckled.

“Well, it’s actually a funny story,” he said. “You see, Kamek and I had decided to go on a sightseeing tour. We were in Teehee Valley when we heard rumors from the locals of a dry bones monkey that lurked near the caves. The two of us immediately took interest and we wanted to get a glimpse of it. We must have taken at least 45 bananas as bait.”

“Which was idiotic,” said Kamek. “Considering the darn thing doesn’t have a stomach!.”

Bowser cast a sideways glance at his magician. It was clear that the two of them had been bickering over this point for the majority of the time that they had been trapped in the cave. He gave a little sniff and continue speaking.

“Anyway,” he said, “that didn’t seem to work, so I had Kamek dress up in a female monkey suit.”

“Wait, Kamek dressed up in a female monkey suit?” asked Roy, smiling.

“Yep,” said Kamek irritably. “It was a cheap monkey suit that we bought at a store. We decorated it with a grass skirt, a lei, a coconut bra, a blond wig, and some awful looking makeup. I looked like Candy Kong after she tried to escape from a mental hospital.”

Bowser laughed out loud and slapped himself on the knee.

“Oh man,” he said. “Well, anyway, we managed to draw out the dry bones kong, despite the fact that we had a pretty pathetic costume. Unfortunately, he wasn’t too happy to see us, so he knocked us out with a club and dragged us into his cave. The two of us have been stuck in here ever since.”

Roy looked around the cavern. He noticed that it was a empty except or a few empty barrels and a quantity of bananas that littered the ground. Roy glanced behind him and noticed that a humongous gem was blocking off the entrance to the antechamber.

“You mean you guys have absolutely no way of getting out?” asked Roy, growing worried.

Kamek shook his head.

“Nope,” he said. “The monster took my wand, so any hope of getting out of here using magic is gone.”

“So we’re trapped in here?” asked Roy. He was frightened and worried. He didn’t want to be stuck in the cavern. It was dingy and it smelled of mildew and decaying bodies.

“Pretty much,” said Bowser.

Roy started freaking out. He ran to the jewel and started banging on it with his fists.

“Help!” he called out. “Somebody! Anybody! Let me out!”

“Roy, “ snapped Kamek. “Will you settle down, please? No one can hear you, all that banging is pointless.”

Roy tried a new method: backing up and running at the door at full speed.

“That’s pointless, too,” said Bowser. “I already tried that.”

Roy threw up his arms in exasperation and frustration.

“Then what are we going to do?” he asked.

“Well, there is only one thing for a noble koopa to do at a time like this,” said Bowser. With that, he sat down cross legged on the ground with his eyes closed. Roy and Kamek exchanged looks with one another, not entirely sure what he was up to.

“Uh, what are you doing?” asked Kamek at last.

“I’m utilizing the Princess Peach method,” said Bowser without opening his eyes.

Now Roy was even more confused. Kamek got a funny look on his face.

“What’s the Princess Peach method?” asked Roy.

“Simple,” said Bowser as he opened his eyes and glanced at Roy and Kamek. “I sit around, and wait for help to come to me.” Bowser closed his eyes again. Kamek and Roy exchanged another look.

“That’s stupid,” said Kamek bluntly.

“What, do you guys have any better ideas?” asked Bowser. “Come on, sit back, relax. The more patient we are, the quicker help will seem to come.”

Roy and Kamek sat down on the cold, ridged floor of the cavern. There was a moment of silence as the three of them sat there, doing nothing but breathing in the dank air of the cave.

“This is boring,” said Roy. Bowser laughed.

“Well, no one ever said being a damsel in distress had to be exciting,” he said. Another minute passed before his face fell. 

“But, yeah I’m bored out of my mind,” he said. Roy and Kamek groaned and then collapsed onto the floor.

“I sure hope help will come soon,” said Roy miserably.


	8. Desert Trek

Chapter 8 Desert Trek

Meanwhile, the Koopalings and Celia trekked through the night, desperate to track down Roy. They had decided to follow the trail that the skeleton gorilla had left behind in the sand, and were actually making good progress. Despite this, Iggy was driving himself crazy with worry.

“Can’t we go any faster?” he asked as his hands shook. “I can’t dare to imagine what horrible things Roy is going through right now. What if that horrible monkey has decided to boil him alive? Or put him in a torture chair? Or has him hanging from a wall in a dungeon of his own making?” Iggy was so fraught with worry that these ideas were causing him to hyperventilate.

“Man, Iggy, will you settle down?” said Larry. “That thing’s a skeleton monkey, not a member of the Spanish Inquisition. Or at least I don’t expect him to be part of the Spanish Inquisition.”

One person who was wrestling internally with confusing feelings regarding the kidnapping was Celia. She was especially confused because she didn’t know how she felt towards Roy. She knew that he wasn’t exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but at the same time she found herself being drawn to him. In addition to that, she suspected that Roy had a crush on her based on the way that he acted. She wasn’t one hundred percent certain if that was the case though; she needed to hear it from him. Either way, she was trying to keep the group’s spirits up by keeping a positive attitude.

“Don’t worry guys,” said Celia with a smile. “We’ll get Roy back. And when we do, we’re going to kick that monkey’s butt bone so hard that he’ll wish he stayed in the grave.”

“Yeah,” said Lemmy, who was known for being the cheerleader of the group. “Celia’s right; we’ve got this guys!” He proceeded to sing a series of cheers and songs, much to the chagrin of everyone else. Eventually, the tracks lead them all to the mouth of a cave. At the sight of this, Lemmy ceased with his cheering and singing. Everyone stared into the blackness of the cave entrance, and Ludwig produced an amazing, sparkling blue fireball that it flickered in his hands. He held it up to the cave entrance, causing it to illuminate the inside.

“Remember, Ludwig,” said Iggy, “the skeleton gorilla resides in this cave. We need to be as quiet as possible. Otherwise we’d make it aware of our presence.”

Ludwig sucked in his breath and glared at Iggy.

“Wow, thanks Captain Obvious,” he said. “Got any more helpful comments?”

Iggy didn’t respond. Instead, he gave Ludwig a look and entered the cave. The inside was the definition of creepy. The floor was littered with bones, so the party had to be careful where they stepped. The place also reeked of death and decay, and the ceiling was adorned with a million cobwebs. Wendy let out an audible whimper as she walked down the cavernous passageway; in the blue firelight that Ludwig produced the place gave off an eerie vibe. Iggy tapped on Ludwig’s shoulder, concerned about something else now.

“Ludwig,” he said, “you’re whistling while you’re breathing. I’d recommend that you’d stop before we alert anybody that we are here. Also, your fire is way, way to bright. Do you think you would consider turning down the brightness just a notch? I would really appreciate that.”

Ludwig gave a frustrated sigh and turned around to face his brother.

“Iggy,” he whispered fiercely, “you do realize that making me mad will only make the flame brighter, right?

Iggy chuckled. At this point, he wasn’t even attempting to hide his nervousness.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just want to make sure that we are safe..”

“Okay, I’m going to stop you right there,” said Ludwig as he put his finger on Iggy’s mouth. “You want to make sure that the group is safe? Alright. How about you let me work on controlling my fire, and I’ll let you work on controlling your voice?” With that, Ludwig turned and walked away, making it clear that the case was closed. Morton approached Iggy and put his hand on his shoulder.

“He’s got a point,” he said. Iggy sighed in defeat and continued walking, not even attempting to make any more comments. The party continued to trek down the ill begotten tunnel until they came to the end and gawked at the sight.


	9. The Beast

Chapter 9 The Beast

The gang found themselves within a humongous open cavern. There were torches aligning the outer walls, so Ludwig’s flame was no longer necessary. There were also at least forty five empty, multi-colored barrels and the cave was filled to the brim with treasure. There were so many golden coins that the floor was no longer visible. Precious gems such as beryl, topaz, amethysts, rubies, and sapphires could also be seen among the plethora of riches. They gave off there own glow in the torchlight, and each of the party members felt a sudden surge of greed flare up within them. Wendy, however, couldn’t beat the temptation.

“Oh boy,” she said as she ran forward and immediately began picking up as much treasure as her arms could carry. Before she could make much of a hoard, she let out a gasp. There, on a purple velvet couch, was the skeleton gorilla. It was letting out some of the most earth rattling snores you had ever heard, so the group could see that it was fast asleep. The sheer sight of it was enough to make even the most courageous of people squirm.

“Why does an undead gorilla need to sleep?” whispered Lemmy.

“Maybe he does it for pleasure?” Iggy whispered back, but even as he said it he didn’t sound so sure. 

“Come on,” whispered Larry to Wendy. “Let’s find Roy and get out of here.”

The seven of them proceeded to examine the cave for any rocks that would cover up openings to places that would hold somebody prisoner. It was hard work, as there were many branching tunnels that lead to dead ends. After some searching, however, Lemmy whispered from across the room.

“Hey guys, I found something,” he called out softly. The place where he called out from was a right in front of a humongous white gemstone in a far off corner of the cavern. The others gathered around it.

“Get a load of this,” said Lemmy enthusiastically.

“Oh wow,” Ludwig said. “Try fitting that in your bedroom, Wendy.”

Iggy put his hand on the gem and felt around.

“Well,” he said, “based on the color and the texture I would say that it is a diamond. Diamonds are usually formed in the mantle, not near the surface in caves. And even if they did form near the surface, the chances of them forming at sizes like this is pretty slim.”

Morton looked pensive. 

“I wonder,” he said. He went forward and knocked on the diamond. “Hello? Is anybody in there?”

From inside the blocked off room, Roy, Kamek and Bowser heard Morton knocking. All three of them instantly got excited and ran up to the door in order to communicate with the party on the outside.

“Guys!” exclaimed Roy. “What took you so long? We’ve been waiting for, like, hours!”

The party glanced at each other with looks of excitement.

“It’s good to hear your voice, Roy,” said Iggy.

“I’m sorry, ‘we?’ asked Wendy. “What do you mean by ‘we?’”

“Oh, Bowser and Kamek are in here with me,” said Roy. “They’ve been stuck in here for even longer than I have.”

“It’s actually a really funny story,” said Bowser as he started chuckling. “You see, Kamek and I…”

“Yeah, let’s not tell them the story right now, “ said Kamek with annoyance in his voice.

“Okay, well, don’t you worry guys,” said Larry. “We’re gonna get you out of there.”

Morton put his hands underneath the diamond. Exerting all of the strength that he had at his disposal, he tried to move it. Unfortunately, it was as if the thing had been welded to the walls with a hot glue gun; it wouldn’t budge. Next, Ludwig tried to to use his telekinesis to get the gem to move. The diamond was illuminated by a bright, glowing blue light; however, Ludwig’s efforts were just as futile as Morton’s. 

“I believe that the rock is enchanted,” said Kamek. “You would need to get my wand and a spellbook in order to move it.”

“Your wand and a spellbook?” asked Wendy. “Where are we supposed to find those?”

Everyone glanced over at the skeleton gorilla, snoozing away on his couch. Tucked underneath its arm was the spellbook, and Kamek’s wand was gripped in its hand. The Koopalings glanced at Ludwig, who begrudgingly floated toward the skeleton gorilla. As quiet as a mouse, he managed to get the spellbook out from under its arms without much of a problem. However, retrieving the wand was a much bigger issue. When Ludwig grabbed a hold of the wand and started to pull, he found that the grip the gorilla had on it was pretty tight.

“Man,” he said quietly. “For someone who doesn’t have muscles, this gorilla is pretty strong.”

Ludwig gave one last mighty pull, but couldn’t get the wand loose. Instead, he toppled over backwards. During this time, Iggy was a nervous wreck. He was shaking like jello in a blender, and at the sight of Ludwig falling over on his behind he gave one gasp that was so loud it echoed all throughout the cave. This caused the gorilla to stir, but thankfully not wake up. Ludwig gave one alarmed and angry glance at Iggy, who gave a nervous and quiet chuckle as he started twiddling his thumbs.

Ludwig then tried to pull on the wand telekinetically. He seemed to make progress with this plan. Unfortunately, as he pulled the wand towards him, the gorilla’s arm came with it. He attempted to pull the wand upwards toward the ceiling, but when he did that, the whole gorilla sprang upwars off of the couch and floated in midair. Ludwig was now in serious danger of waking up the snoozing monster.

Iggy’s shaking transitioned into trembling. He now couldn’t look at the whole affair because he was so nervous. Terrified, he recoiled into his shell. 

“Oh, tell me when it is over,” he said. Then, he felt somebody tapping on his shell.

“Anybody order a spellbook and wand?”

Iggy poked his head out of his shell and saw Ludwig standing over him, both items in hand. Iggy was so overjoyed that he embraced his brother in a hug.

“Oh, you are amazing, Ludwig!” he whispered excitedly. He took the spellbook and Kamek’s wand from Ludwig and got a little closer to the diamond.

“Okay,” he muttered to himself as he started flipping through the pages. “Now I just need to find the right spell...ah, here it is!” Iggy cleared his throat and recited the words on the page. 

“Rocko majo haru watashi. Shigeru fiery narrow Waluigi,” he said as he waved the wand. The rock was surrounded by a thousand tiny, glittery sparkles, then it faded out of existence. This allowed Roy, Kamek, and Bowser to break out of the room.

“Well done, everybody,” said Kamek joyfully as he retrieved his wand from Iggy.

“Yeah, two big thumbs up to each and everyone of you,” said Bowser as he gave everyone the thumbs up sign. All the Koopalings smiled. They loved getting words of praise from Bowser. It was the biggest reason why they tagged along with his evil schemes. Celia stared at the Koopa King, her eyes glittering. She let out a tiny squeal of delight and wrapped her arms around his midsection in a hug.

“Oh, I’ve been waiting so long to meet you,” she said happily. “I can’t believe I’m actually here right now.” Bowser stared down at her, looking confused and uncomfortable. 

“Uh,” he said, “who is this and why is she hugging me?”

The Koopalings exchanged looks. They weren’t sure if now would be the best time to drop the news on Bowser that he possibly had a daughter.

“We’ll explain later,” said Iggy. “For right now, let’s just focus on getting out of this cave before skeleton King Kong decides to wake up.”

Everyone in the party nodded. They then proceeded to tiptoe toward the exit. They were all making good progress until Roy tripped and scraped his knee on the cavern floor.

“Oooowwww!” he yelled loudly. “Oh mama, my knee! Whoo whee, that hurts like billy!”

The ruckus caused the skeleton ape to awaken from its slumber. It got to its feet and towered over the lot. It looked madder than a fat kid whose parents told him he needed to go on a diet. Roy chuckled.

“Whoops,” he said. “Sorry guys.”

The skeleton gorilla started slapping the ground. The group broke into a run toward the door, desperately hoping that they wouldn’t have to deal with any shenanigans. Unfortunately, the gorilla jumped over them, blocking the exit.

“What do we do now?” asked Larry in panic.

“Oh, where’s an ice flower when you need one?” said Celia.

Ludwig flew up to the ceiling of the cave. Using his telekinesis, he started hurling a plethora of treasure and barrels at the ape; however, it covered its head with its arms, so it didn’t get severely damaged. In fact, this ironically ended up helping the ape, because when Ludwig was done, it started to hurl the collection of goods every which way around the cave. This caused the party to scatter so they could avoid getting hit. Kamek and Iggy ducked behind an orange colored barrel together.

“Kamek,” said Iggy, “do you have any ideas?”

“Well,” he said, “I think I might be able to find a spell within the book that might be able to help us. But I’m going to need you all to keep that crazy ape away from me while I look through it.”

Iggy nodded while he and Kamek rushed from out from behind the barrel toward the spellbook. All the while, the two of them tried to avoid the flinging of the treasure. When they reached the spellbook, Kamek picked it up and started frantically flipping through the pages. 

Bowser noticed what Kamek was doing, so he charged at the ape with his fists out. He tried to punch it, but the ape dodged. Bowser threw another punch that managed to land on its jaw. The ape’s head rattled and shook, and for a second it seemed like it was going to fall of its spinal cord. The ape put its hands on its head to get the rattling to stop, then kicked Bowser. Bowser stumbled back from the force, then breathed a fireball. After this, he turned toward Kamek.

“Kamek?” he said. “I hope that whatever you’re planning, you put it into action soon.”

“Give me one more second,” Kamek said, speeding up the flipping. “Ah, I found it! Everyone get out of the way!” Then, Kamek cleared his throat and started chanting from the book and waving his wand. 

“Minimus articulus harboral obituary shockual!” When he finished the chant, a multitude of rainbow colored lightning bolts escaped from his wand and flew toward the skeleton gorilla. There was a blinding flash as the bolts hit the gorilla, and the infamous ape was gone. In its place was a tiny pink fuzzball with purple feet and adorable blue eyes. Kamek gave a loud gasp and collapsed onto the floor.

“Kamek, are you alright?” asked Wendy as she and the others rushed over to him. Kamek groaned.

“I will be,” he said, “as soon as we get out of this stupid cave and into the fresh air. I feel like I’ve been in here forever.” With that, Roy picked him up and everyone marched out of the cave.


	10. The Truth

Chapter 10 The Truth

When they got out of the cave, everyone felt like they could breathe easier. They no longer had to deal with the skeleton ape. They were no longer trapped in a claustrophobic cave with nothing to sustain or entertain them. Best of all, there was nothing to cause anyone intense amounts of stress. The only things that were left to worry about was Kamek’s state and Celia’s secret.

“Are you sure you’re okay Kamek?” asked Lemmy. “Do you need any Chuckola Cola?”

“No, I can manage,” said Kamek as he stood up. His legs wobbled a little and he put his hand to his head, but he didn’t immediately pass out. Everyone took that as a good sign.

“Well, I’d say everything turned out alright,” said Bowser with a smile. With that, he turned to Celia. “So, uh, who exactly is this young lady?”

“Oh, this is Celia,” said Iggy. “She is a koopa-human hybrid.”

“Yeah,” said Celia. “And not only that, but I am also your daughter!” With that, she embraced Bowser in another hug. Bowser looked baffled and confused.

“Uh,” he said while turning to the Koopalings, “what did she say?”

Celia released Bowser from the hug and gave him a smile.

“You’re my father,” she said. “My mom told me that my dad is none other than King Bowser himself, and that’s you. Oh, I’ve been wanting to meet you for so long. And I just want to say….I love you, dad!” Celia wrapped her arms around Bowser again. Bowser hesitated for a second, then hugged Celia back.

“I love you to kiddo,” he said. The Koopalings and Kamek all gawked. 

“Wait, woah, woah,” said Kamek. “You mean to tell me that you had a child? With a human?!?”

Bowser chuckled.

“Well, yeah,” he said as he glanced down and gave Celia an awkward smile. Kamek’s face filled with a mixture of contempt, disappointment, disbelief, and disgust.

“Bowser Hortensia Koopa, I can’t believe that you would do such a thing!” said Kamek with a scornful tone. “This is a new low. I thought you were going to far when you started kidnapping Princess Peach, but to do THIS? We have laws, you know, and you have completely disregarded them. Frankly, I am disgusted with you, completely disgusted.” With that, he turned and started walking away. Celia glanced at Kamek and gave a quick laugh.

“Don’t listen to him, Dad,” she said. “The point is we’re together now, and there is nothing to take us apart.” She gave Bowser another hug, which Bowser returned awkwardly.

…….

Back at Bowser’s Castle, Kamek was refusing to speak to Bowser. Kamek was pretty angry at him because he viewed what he did as a crime. The Koopalings, however, didn’t know how to feel. They had been skeptical of Celia’s story, so they hadn’t been expecting it to be true. As they sat together in the common room, they couldn’t figure out what to say, what to think, how to feel, or how to deal with what emotion that they should be feeling. They just felt...lost.

Lemmy glanced at his siblings, who were all sitting around, as silent as a library. The silence made him feel uncomfortable. He was used to everyone being in a good mood, or at least a half decent one. So, he decided that if anyone should be the first to break the silence, it should be him.

“So…” he said a little nervously, “what should we do?”

The others glanced up. They wanted an answer to that question. Each of them had wanted to be the one asking it, and had wanted somebody to be ready with the answer. Larry let out a sigh.

“I don’t know, Lems,” he said while shaking his head. “I mean, what went down with Celia and Bowser was just...I don’t even know how to describe it.”

“It was shocking is what it was,” said Wendy. “It was shocking and insane. I mean, by show of hands, how many of you were expecting Bowser to say that he was Celia’s father?”

Out of all seven Koopalings, Roy was the only one whose hand went up into the air. Everyone stared at him.

“Really, Roy?” asked Wendy. “You thought that story was true? Really? The story that had more holes in it than a piece of swiss cheese that had been shot over nine thousand times?”

Roy looked around at all of his siblings, who flashed him looks of incredulity and disbelief. Roy smirked.

“Well...yeah,” he said. 

“Why?” asked Ludwig. “Please fill us in. My curiosity is quite piqued.”

Roy looked like he was really thinking hard, trying to pull from the recesses of his mind something that would be a valid reason.

“Well, I…I….I just liked the way that she told it, okay?” he said.

Ludwig rolled his eyes and Wendy shook her head as she put her head in her hands. The intense silence that had left the room returned. It did not stay for long though, as Morton took a deep breath and made his soft voice heard.

“I think that we need to go talk to him,” he said.

Everyone exchanged looks. They all seemed to like that idea. Roy, however, felt confused.

“Wait, who are we talking about?” he asked.

Everyone except for Lemmy and Morton expressed frustration at that question in some way. Ludwig facepalmed, and Wendy, Larry, and Iggy all groaned.

“He was talking about Bowser, Roy,” said Ludwig, his voice bearing the very definition of an exasperated tone.

“And you know what?” said Iggy as he got up from his chair, “I think that Morton’s suggestion would be a perfectly sensible action. We manifestly have questions for him. I personally want to know what was going through Bowser’s mind when he was going out with Celia’s mom. So, I believe that an interrogation would be the most obvious and logical choice.”

Everyone nodded. So, the seven of them stood up and made their way to Bowser’s throne room, where they knew he would be. They were prepared to present him with questions, but they were not prepared for the sight that met their eyes. Bowser was sitting in his throne with his head in his hands, and it sounded like he was sobbing .

“Oh, what have I done?” he asked himself loudly while his body shook. “What was I thinking?”

The Koopalings exchanged glances. What was going on? Larry approached Bowser cautiously and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Bowser,” he said. “Are you alright?”

Bowser sat up. He was shaking uncontrollably. Teardrops stained his scaly skin and his nose was running like it was training for a marathon. The whites of his eyes were a soft pink, the same color as rose petals.

“No, I’m not alright,” he said, his voice shaking as madly as his body. “I just made a stupid mistake.”

“Hey!” said Roy as he approached Bowser’s throne. “I know that Celia might seem like a weirdo to some people. But that does not mean you made a mistake bringing her into the world.”

“No, I didn’t mean that!” said Bowser. “I meant I made a mistake by saying that she is my daughter.”

“Okay, said Iggy, “I can understand your logic. But you told her the truth. There’s nothing inherently wrong with telling the truth.”

There was a moment of silence. Bowser looked down into his lap. His body had stopped shaking and he was refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

“You...did tell the truth, right?” asked Iggy.

Bowser shook his head.

“No,” he said. “I did not.”

Iggy’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. Wendy let out a little gasp, and Ludwig put his hands on his hips.

“What is the matter with you?” he asked as his eyebrows scrunched up.

“I’m sorry!” Bowser said as the tears resurfaced. “I didn’t want to hurt Cecily, or whatever her name is. She just looked so happy to see me. I thought that if I told her that I was her father, it would make her even happier. But look what happened because of it! Kamek won’t talk to me, and I’m going to be in big trouble when people find out that I have another biological child. Oh, what am I going to do?”

“You need to tell Celia the truth,” said Iggy.

Bowser let out a laugh.

“Oh no, I can’t do that,” he said. “Then I’ll have two people who will refuse to talk to me.”

“Do you even hear what you’re saying?” asked Ludwig in disbelief. “You’re acting as if you and Celia have been friends forever. For Pete’s sake, you didn’t even know she existed until she rescued you in the desert!”

“Exactly!” said Iggy. “And besides, Celia has been believing a fabrication for far too long. It is time that her eyes be opened.”

Bowser considered what Iggy and Ludwig were saying. They did make some good points. But what would Celia say? What would she think? After some more consideration, however, he had to agree that there was no other option.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll do it.”

“Good idea,” said Iggy with a nod.

“But try to take it easy on her,” said Wendy. “Remember, she lived her whole life believing this story. It would be pretty world shattering for her to find out it’s false.”

Bowser nodded in agreement.

“No, you’re right,” he said. “You guys are absolutely right. So when I break the news to her, I will be nice, sincere, and sophisticated.”

At that moment, Celia came through the door. She had a book in her hand and was grinning from ear to ear. She greeted Bowser, who motioned for the Koopalings to exit the throne room. He got up from his throne, his heart rate elevated and his breathing rapid.

“Listen, uh, Celia,” he said nervously. Before he could say anything more, Celia held up her hand.

“Wait,” Celia said. “Before you say anything, there is something that I want to show you.” She presented to him the book that she had been carrying. It had a pink cover and was decorated with lacy purple ribbon. The title read “Sweet Sweet Memories.”

“See?” Celia said as her grin got brighter. “This is a scrapbook that my mom made. I’ve been holding on to it for years knowing that one day, I’d be able to show it to you.”

Bowser gave a pained smile. He had initially thought that this was going to be easy. Now he was seeing that the truth was going to inflict more damage on Celia than he had hoped.

“That’s...that’s great,” said Bowser, the anxiety prevalent in his voice. “But look, there’s something that I have to…”

“Oh, look at this one!” said Celia as she pointed to a picture. The photograph showed her and her mom out on a sunny day when Celia was a little girl. Her mom was blowing bubbles, and Celia was rushing to pop the bubbles while a fuzzy dandelion was in her hair. Together the bubbles and dandelion fuzz were creating quite a show in the air. “Isn’t it great?”

“Uh, sure,” said Bowser, barely taking the time to look at the photo . “But Celia…”

“Oh wait, I’ll bet you’ll get a kick out of this one!” said Celia as she flipped through the pages. She landed on a picture of her as a toddler, blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. She was also wearing a shirt that said “50% human, 50% koopa, 100% loved.”

“Isn’t that cute?” asked Celia. “My mom made that shirt herself.”

“Yeah yeah sure, it’s adorable,” said Bowser. “But Celia, I really, really have to tell you some…”

“Oh, you have to see the one that shows me at Christmas!” Celia said as she resumed with flipping through the scrapbook. “That one is so sweet that you’ll get type two diabetes if you’re within a ten mile radius of…”

“I’m not your father!” Bowser yelled. “I’m sorry I lied.”

Celia stopped skimming through the pages. She let the book fall to the floor as she stared into Bowser’s face.

“What?” she asked. “What do you mean you’re not my father? Of course you’re my father.”

“No, I’m not,” Bowser said. “I only have one biological child, and how I got him is a very long and very complicated story. I’m sorry, but I can’t be your father.”

Celia’s eyes looked shiny as tears welled up in them.

“But...but…”

Celia picked up the scrapbook. She turned to the front page, where there was a picture of a smiling, brunette woman.

“This is my mother!” she said as she pointed to the picture. “Don’t you recognize her?”

Bowser shook his head.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but I’ve never seen that woman before in my life.”

Celia closed the book and held it at her side. She stared down at the floor, not daring to look Bowser in the eye.

“Are you okay?” Bowser asked.

“Okay?” she asked. “How can I be okay? You lied straight to my face.”

“Look,” he said. “I’m really sorry.”

Celia still refused to look at Bowser. She was now shaking and her fist was clenched.

“You’re horrible,” she said quietly.

“What?” asked Bowser.

“You’re absolutely horrible,” said Celia. “Everyone in the Koopa Kingdom says that you are a great king. But you’re not. You’re just selfish.”

Now Celia’s fist was shaking uncontrollably. She looked Bowser in the face and when she did, he could see that hot tears were forming in her eyes. Her skin had also turned a bright shade of vermillion.

“You know what?” she said, her voice rising like bread. “I’m glad you’re not my father. You know why? Because you’re nothing more than an empty husk who has no decency to his name! I hate you! I absolutely hate you, you disgusting waste of space!”

With that, Celia ran off, leaving Bowser staggered and hurt.


	11. Roy's Confession

Chapter 11 Roy’s Confession

Celia was sitting behind a rock, tears falling down her face. She was ripping pages out of the scrapbook and using them as tissues. She couldn’t believe it; she had made herself look like a fool. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been in a situation this embarrassing and heart breaking. She felt like her heart had been ripped into a billion pieces and thrown into the fire.

She also felt extremely angry at her mother. This was all her fault. She was the one who lied to her. She was the one who didn’t even think twice before she told her one of the biggest lies in the Mushroom World. If she could, Celia wanted to go to her mother and yell at her. Or do something worse.

Celia thought back to the time when her mother had told her the lie. It was when she had gotten home from school. She had been very harshly bullied by the other kids and had come home all worked up. Her mother had immediately noticed and attended to her crying girl.

“Oh, honey,” she said, “what’s the matter? Did something happen at school today?”

Celia could barely breathe as she tried to recall what happened.

“It...it was my classmates,” she said as salty tears stained her goldenrod cheeks. “They...they called...they called me a…” Celia couldn’t even bring herself to say it and burst into a fresh round of sobs. She buried her face in her mother’s chest and continued to cry loudly. Her mother gave her a hug and stroked her back.

“Oh, sweetie,” she said, her heart broken. Then she got an idea. 

“Come with me,” she said. Celia dried her eyes as she followed her mother, who brought her into the dining room. One corner of the room was stacked with so many boxes that Celia couldn’t see the wall. Her mother opened a fairly small box and out of it pulled a brightly colored poster.

“Do you know who this is?” she asked as she handed it to Celia.

“Sure I do,” said Celia. “That’s King Bowser Koopa.”

Her mother smiled.

“Right,” she said. “But he’s not just the king of the koopas. He’s also your father.”

Celia stared at her mother, her mouth falling open in shock.

“What did you say?” she asked in disbelief.

“That’s your father, Celia,” her mother said with a smile.

Celia’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. Her mouth opened into a smile of pure elation.

“You mean,” she said, “I’m a princess?”

Her mother nodded.

“That’s so cool!” Celia screamed in excitement. She wrapped her mother in another hug.

“That’s right, Celia,” her mother said. “You’re my little princess.”

Celia heard footsteps coming up from behind her, bringing her back to the present moment. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Roy coming up to her.

“Ah, there you are,” he said. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. For a minute, I thought that some alien species had come down and tried to turn you into their new queen, but then I realized that was stupid. Aliens are probably electing presidents nowadays anyway.” Roy sat down beside Celia. “Are you alright?”

Celia sighed.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I mean, how would you feel if you just found out that most of your life you’ve been believing a lie?”

Roy shrugged.

“Oh man, I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, most of the people in my life are pretty trustworthy.”

With that, Celia started crying all over again.

“You know,” she said, “after my mom told me that Bowser was my dad, I signed my name as ‘Celia Koopa’ instead of ‘Celia Patch.’” She pulled another paper out of the scrapbook and used that to blow her nose. “How could I be so stupid?”

“Hey,” Roy said. “You’re not stupid. You’re incredibly smart.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Celia said as she crumpled up the scrapbook page and tossed it to the side.

“What! That’s not...well, maybe that’s a little bit true,” Roy said. “But so what if it is? It’s the truth either way.”

Celia sniffed and closed the scrapbook. The pain in her eyes was still there, but now there was a little bit of incredulity mixed with it.

“Well, thanks for that,” she said, “but I think there is evidence to suggest the contrary.” 

“Oh, don’t be that way,” Roy said. “So you made a mistake. Big deal. We all make mistakes. Hey, I make mistakes all the time, it doesn’t mean I’m...well okay, maybe that isn’t the best reasoning.”

Celia stared at him. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she had recently cried her eyes out, Roy might have been a little intimidated by her expression. All it did, however, was make him want to wrap her in a blanket.

“You see, the point that I am trying to make,” Roy continued, “is that you are not a dummy. You are probably the smartest girl I’ve ever met. Which is impressive, because I have met a lot of girls. Sure, most of them just threw drinks in my face and walked down the street while I called to them in a totally suave manner, but hey, I can’t control how a chick chooses to express their love, am I right?”

Celia looked from Roy to her feet and shook her head.

“You’re pathetic,” she said, and got up and started walking away.

“Hey!” said Roy as he got to his feet. “Where are you going?”

“What’s it to you?” asked Celia. Her voice seemed to be clenching its fists.

“‘What’s it to me?’” asked Roy. “I just went on a journey with you that took us all the way out of the kingdom and you think that I wouldn’t care about you? Come on, Celia, tell me where it is that you are going.”

Celia stopped, and a moment of tensity hung between them. Roy was worried that Celia was going to lash out at him. But if she did, in what way? Would she start up an argument where she would yell at him or would she try to hit him, and a fight on the physical level would break out? In some ways, the latter was what Roy was more worried about. It wasn’t that he was worried that he couldn’t take Celia in a fist fight. He could destroy her, and that was what he was afraid of; he didn’t want Celia ending up in a hospital bed because of him.

To Roy’s surprise, Celia took a deep breath and turned around. Her gaze had softened and she didn’t appear as angry as before.

“I’m going to see my mother,” she said softly.

Roy perked up.

“Your mother?” he said. “Why do you want to see her?”

“I want to ask her about my dad,” she said stiffly, and began walking away.

“Wait,” said Roy, putting his hand on her shoulder. “I want to come with you.”

Celia scoffed again, allowing the horror movie monster of her inner incredulity to take its full form.

“And why would you want to do that?” she asked, one eyebrow heading into space. Roy stopped short.

“Well...because...because…” he stuttered. For the first time in his life, Roy had no idea what to say in front of a pretty girl. Celia rolled her eyes.

“Go back to Bowser’s Castle, Roy,” she said. “And leave me be.” With that, she started marching away.

“No, wait!” said Roy. “Look, the reason why I want to come with you is...is because I like you, okay?”

Celia stopped dead. She turned toward Roy, and the look on her face was a mixture of surprise and jubilation.

“What did you say?” she asked, her voice coming out in a squeak.

“I said that I like you,” said Roy. “And I mean really like you. You...you’re..amazing!”

Celia blushed, turning a deep vermillion. At the speed of thought, all of her anger and sadness melted away, to be replaced by pure happiness.

“You like me?” she asked, her face searing hot and her voice high and fluttery.

“Yeah, I do,” said Roy. “I want to take you to the beach at sunset, and to a nice movie, and I want to buy you pretty jewelry that would go with your hair and flowers that you like that don’t make your nose itch. I want to make your dreams come true, and I want to be there when you ask your mom about your dad.” Roy approached Celia and took her hands in his. “I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

Celia thought about Roy’s request. Then she nodded.

“Okay,” she said softly. Roy pumped his fist in the air.

“Alright!” he shouted. “I like a girl who is not only nice and smart but also lets me do stuff with her! I am one lucky koopa!”

Celia smiled slightly, but her smile quickly disintegrated into another frown. She motioned to Roy, and the two of them started to walk west, in the direction of the Mushroom Kingdom.


End file.
